The front cover has a cut-out that shows a man on the next page carrying a hurricane lamp in one of London's sewers. It is therefore eligible for release as part of the 2007 NJABBIC challenge - week 22 - cut-out front covers

Somehow, this book made its way back to the OBCZ at Costa's, and call it destiny, or maybe because I am now reading a bookray by the title "What's Your Poo Telling You?", that I felt the urge to pick it up and put it in my bag. A book about the stinky old London that get mentioned in a review with reference to Caleb Carr cannot but be worth my attention. I will be reading it soon and comment here, before passing it on.

From the Publisher"It is 1855, and engineer William May has returned home to London and his beloved wife from the horrors of the Crimean War. When he secures a job transforming the city's sewer system, he believes it will prove his salvation, as, in the subterranean world beneath the city, he begins to lay his ghosts to rest. But when the peace of the tunnels is shattered by a violent murder William loses his tenuous hold on his sanity. Implicated in the crime, plagued by nightmares and visions, he is no longer sure: Could he truly have committed it?

Long Arm Tom is a tosher who scavenges for anything of value in the old sewers, always accompanied by his beloved dog Lady. It is this business that brings him into contact with "The Captain," a wealthy businessman with a weakness for gambling who asks Tom to use his knowledge of London's underworld for an even less savory purpose. But Tom is also William's only hope of salvation. Will he help William bring the truth aboveground?

With richly atmospheric prose of almost visceral power, The Great Stink transports us behind (and below) the glittering façades of Victorian England. Seamlessly combining fact with fiction, it marks the debut of an outstandingly talented writer in the tradition of the very best of historical novelists. "

Update: 27.04.2008 Oh dear... since when is second class mail so fast? I mailed this with the last collection from Stoke-on-Trent on Friday, thinking it would be arriving on Monday hence giving me time to do a JE, but alas....the Royal Mail surprises me again! Still, good thing the book has arrived...one book less from the wishlist, yes?

**** Beware---- this JE contains spoilers!!! ****

Now for my Journal Entry: This book is fantastic! There is a mystery, a killing, that will be the centre of the book, however because this does not happen than in the second half of it, we have all the time to get used to the protagonists, their different social backgrounds, the historic situation and, most of all, the sewers of London! Sometimes the description is so real you can almost smell the nauseating fumes, feel the humidity and the cold, and hear the rushing of water and the steps in the mud... The dogs fights with the rats are very realistic (I think) but didn't enjoy them at all, still, a true mirror of society back then. I loved the ending too, the lucky combination of events that helped Mr. Rose exonerate William, and especially seeing that Lady returned to the beloved master :) I have had some difficulties for the first chapters to get into the story, but it was probably due to the fact that I was distracted by something else, because as soon as I concentrated on the book, I was well within the story and not wanting to put the book down to see what was going to happen next. I am glad I did not stick to the "50 pages rule", because if I had, I'd missed a great read!I will keep an eye on further publications by this author, she's certainly a good storyteller :)

Well, it took me a while to get into this, but once I had I couldn't put it down. I'm probably just echoing everything that YowlYY said but, Clare Clark's description makes it all so real, a bit too much so at times perhaps. I was happy with the ending too, especially Tom and Lady.

Clare Clark explores the underbelly of mid C19 London, its squalor and stinks and corruption with an unflinching and intensely detailed way, so detailed you can almost smell it! Her writing is highly descriptive and the characters vividly drawn. I found the plight of William, a man suffering from obvious post traumatic stress from his war experiences, almost too much to bear. The descriptions of his nightmarish journeys through the sewers, his self harming, the terrible asylum and the prison ship where he is incarcerated are uncomfortable reading especially when you feel all hope is lost for him.

Tom the sewer scavenger and rat catcher is a great character, he’s no angel but he evokes sympathy as a survivor in a desperate and ugly world where no one can be trusted. His relationship with his dog is particularly touching, although it gets him in to deep trouble.

I can admire this book but I’m not sure I can say it was exactly an enjoyable reading experience, there’s no relief from the darkness and misery until the very end and the tension it creates is unbearable.

Journal Entry 10 by darkhorse4460 at The Cherry Tree OBCZ in Steventon, Oxfordshire United Kingdom on Friday, April 30, 2010

Released 7 yrs ago (5/1/2010 UTC) at The Cherry Tree OBCZ in Steventon, Oxfordshire United Kingdom